Apple’s iPad Pro Revival Will Disrupt MacBook Pro Success

Updated April 28: article originally posted April 27.

As Apple prepares to launch a new iPad model after an eighteen-month gap, will the MacBook Pro lose out?

With the launch of the M1 Apple Silicon chipset in 202 and its subsequent inclusion on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Apple disrupted not only its own laptop and desktop business but also that of the competition. It kept the pressure on with the M2 release, and only now, with the M3 iteration nearing competition, are we seeing the potential of ARM-based competitors driven by Qulacomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite.

Yet Apple is about to draw the public’s focus away from the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The year of the Mac is over, long live the iPad.

With the announcement of its next live event on Tuesday May 7, Apple has all but confirmed the launch of a new iPad and a new Apple Pencil through the artwork on the invitation. The iPad line-up has not seen any new products since October 2022. Two versions of the iPad Air are expected to launch, a 10.9 inch and a 12.9 inch version.

Two iPad Pro upgrades are also on the cards, with a move to OLED displays accidentally leaked by Apple.

Update: Sunday, April 28: One significant upgrade has come to light this weekend. Writing for Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports on the Apple Silicon that will sit inside the new iPad Pro tablets. It will not be the M3 chipset currently found in the consumer-focused MacBook Air and MacBook Pro; it’s the next-generation M4 chipset.

The M4 will have the natural bumps in specifications that you see between annual chip upgrades, but it will have one key feature not present in the M3: artificial intelligence. Apple uses AI in several apps and processes (notably image processing and predictive typing). Still, it has fallen behind competing manufacturers shipping silicon with dedicated hardware to assist the AI revolution.

With the M4 chipset, Apple can bring its “large” hardware into the AI game alongside the “mobile” A18 that will debut with the iPhone 16 family this September. If the iPad Pro announced in May comes with the M4 chipset, it will be Apple’s first AI-focused hardware, beating the iPhone and the Mac family to the punch.

Apple has always emphasized the iPad family’s role as a replacement for a traditional computer. With a stylus, a touchscreen, and a keyboard available, the iPad Pro could satisfy the core needs of consumers who would normally turn to the MacBook Air and Pro models. You will be limited to those apps Apple deems safe to list in the iPad’s App Store. These will, in general, be simplified versions of apps you can find on the macOS platform; good enough for social media, casual use, and office tools, but don’t expect to be able to stretch the iPad platform in the way with the Mac platform.

With the new iPads finally arriving you can expect Apple’s PR team to focus on the hardware for the next few months. The power of the iPad, the ability to do everything you need while on the move, the power of the hardware and the apps that unlock it…

Apple will be hoping that the pent-up demand for a new model will contribute to a successful period of sales. It just has to diminish the promise of the MacBook while it does so.

Now read the latest iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple digest…